


Don't Bother Asking For Explanations

by orphan_account



Category: Rick and Morty
Genre: Explicit Language, M/M, POV Beth, POV Outsider
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-30
Updated: 2019-01-30
Packaged: 2019-10-19 09:04:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,122
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17598323
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Beth starts noticing things about her father and her son.





	Don't Bother Asking For Explanations

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! Title is from Al Stewart's song The Year of The Cat because I am obsessed with it.  
> Enjoy!

Beth knows she is fucked up. Having a father like Rick Sanchez kinda has that effect on a child.

Growing up she always had to fight for her father's attention. He was almost always absent or drunk, or just generally disinterested in talking or playing with his daughter. She wanted her father, so she started acting out: hitting other kids, gutting animals or asking for inventions that would help her in the hitting and gutting. Everything for a nice word or a fragment of his attention.

Then it was all ripped away from her when Rick left them forever. She was only fifteen, and she was never the same after it. She made bad decision after bad decision, sleeping around, getting her heart broken again and again by men who were nothing compared to her dad. Her biggest mistake of all was to sleep with Jerry Smith and get pregnant at seventeen. Her dreams were put on hold because of the baby, then came the next one and she just found herself nearing forty and still being a horse surgeon.

She doesn't love Jerry, never did but she needs him. The man who is the furthest away from being Rick Sanchez, who is there for her to rule. She can always control him and rely on him, which is a nice constant in her sorry life.

And the kids… she never wanted to be a parent like her father but somehow she ended up exactly like him. She is present, but not to the extent her children need her. She thought she knew them, but it becomes more and more evident by each day that she does not in the slightest...

Especially Morty. He always reminded her of Jerry, of his worst qualities and maybe that's why she distanced herself from him. At least that's what she tries to tell herself, but the ugly truth is - the truth she only admits when she is particularly drunk - that it is because of Rick as well.  She is jealous of her own son because he has all the attention she always craved from her father.

The moment her father came back to her life was undoubtedly the best day of her life. She thought it's her chance to fix her broken relationship with Rick, but it didn't play out the way she thought it would.

Her father didn't pay any more attention to her than he did all those years ago, instead, he fixated on her fourteen-year-old son and now he hauls him on adventures all the time.

Morty is missing school, he is constantly exhausted and sick-looking and she is a terrible mother because that's not what is bothering her in this whole mess. She is annoyed because Morty doesn't even have to try to have his grandfather's eyes on him and she would fucking break both of her arms to be in his place.

She gets used to it after a while. Rick and Morty becomes RickandMorty and she is not even angry about it that much anymore. Her father is there and he bonds with her children. She should be satisfied, she tells herself.

And she almost believes she is, but then everything goes to shit as always. Life is consistent in that.

It starts out as a good thing. She never imagined she would once say this, but her father started drinking less. She doesn't think anyone else except for Morty, maybe, notices because Rick is as much of an asshole sober as he is drunk, but he has less dribble around his mouth, he burps less and his breath doesn't smell like a liquor store anymore. She doesn't dare to ask her father in fear of jinxing her luck but she wonders what is behind the change.

She begins to put together the answer shortly after that and she almost wishes she didn't.

Seemingly, the less Rick drinks the more time he and Morty spend in outer space. The situation escalated to the point that sometimes Rick doesn't even bring Morty home for two days. She hates agreeing with Jerry but it's time for them to intervene.

They are eating breakfast in silence when she finally finds the bravery to address Rick.

“Dad, Jerry and I wanted to talk to you about your adventures with Morty.”

Her father's fork slows only for a moment and he is back to eating as normally as possible. “Yeah, what about it, sweetie?” _Sweetie._ He knows damn well he can manipulate her by being like that and she is too weak, she is about to backpedal, but thank god Jerry speaks up.

“Morty has slept in his room _once_ this week, Rick. And it's Friday.”

“Yes, Dad, it's not healthy. Morty needs sleep and a break every once in a while. So we decided on a new rule: he has to be home by eleven pm and until three pm.”

Morty seems upset and looks like he is about to protest but something stops him and he turns to stare at his plate.

“You are right, sweetie. It's your house, your rules.” Rick agrees easily enough but Beth is bothered by the fact he doesn't look at her at all.

Rick holds himself to his promise for a few weeks and Beth is suspicious because Morty doesn't look any better. He still has dark bags under his eyes and his grades definitely don't improve. She doesn't say anything, though, because something in her (the little girl, probably) doesn't let her.

She stumbles upon the next clue completely on accident two weeks in on the new arrangement. She wakes up in the middle of the night, thirsty and sweaty. She climbs out of the bed and goes down to the kitchen to get a glass of water. On her way back something tells her to check on the kids so she does. Summer sleeps soundly, quietly murmuring as she has done since she was little.

Morty, however, is not in his room.

Beth feels anger well up in her as she hurries to the garage. Rick and Morty are not in there, but the ship is. She furrows her brows, closing the door and heading towards her dad's room. Why would Morty be in there in the middle of the night? She goes to open the door but it's locked. Rick never locks his door, he is rarely in the room anyway, so why? She is too disoriented and sleepy to make sense of the situation so she goes back to bed with a vaguely uncomfortable feeling in her guts.

Events speed up after that night. The next morning, Rick and Morty are both at the breakfast table, eating normally. Morty wears a yellow turtleneck that Beth didn't even know he owned. It's not that chilly outside so she worries he is coming down with something.

“Morty, are you feeling well, sweetie?”

Morty looks at her with confusion evident in his wide eyes but nods. She feels the need to explain herself, though. “You are wearing a jumper. Did you catch a cold?”

Morty blushes and he stutters even more than he normally does when he answers. “I-i’m okay, m-mom, it's just, you know, uhm, a new style- yeah, i-it's a n-new s-style.” He looks terribly embarrassed and Beth gets this bad feeling again.

“He is probably hiding hickeys or something.” Summer’s dry voice pipes in and she is clearly joking, but Morty's eyes widen even more and Summer’s jaw drops. “Wait, seriously? Oh. My. God.”

Beth watches bemusedly as Summer stands up and stalks to her brother, trying to get a peek at his neck. “Summer, you bitch, g-get off me, I- what the fuck, Summer, l-let me go-”

Rick sighs wearily and slaps Summer's grabbing hands away from Morty. “Come on, Summer, let the virgin keep his virtue-” He is not fast enough though, and they all get a glimpse of a huge fucking red hickey on Morty's throat.

“Jesus, what the fuck is that? Your girlfriend is a vacuum cleaner?” Summer snickers, but her eyes are huge and stricken. Morty jumps up and runs out of the room and an awkward silence falls upon them. Rick stands up, too and goes after Morty. “The little fucker is probably crying out his poor heart.” He stops in the doorway and speaks without looking back at them. “You better fuck off, Summer.”

Summer rolls her eyes, shrugging off the encounter but Beth is unable to do the same. She is stuck wondering who put those hickeys on her son. He is barely in school and doesn't have any friends beside his grandfather. Was it on an adventure? Maybe he met an alien girl or something… but as far as she knows the hickey wasn't there last night. Rick and Morty came back around ten and her son was wearing his yellow shirt with his skin unblemished.

She loses her appetite all of a sudden and goes to work without a word to any of her family members. She can't concentrate at all, though, and a horse pays the price for that with its life.

She doesn't even dare to think her suspicions out loud in her head because it would make them too real for her to handle. She successfully buries her worries with two bottles of wine but she can't help but keep a sharp eye on her father and son after that.

She notices things she didn't before. She kind of wishes she didn't.

Rick touches her son all the time. A hand on his shoulder or forearm, nothing inappropriate but nothing necessary either. Morty doesn't seem to mind at all, he does it as well. He clutches at her father's coat lapels or grabs his wrist tightly and it seems all too intimate to Beth.

She knows her father. He is a terrible, terrible human being but he would never do that to her or her son, right? Even he has some resemblance of morality left in him… but then maybe he doesn't. Rick Sanchez might just be someone who is not bothered by the fact that Morty Smith is his grandson, his fourteen years old grandson. She wants to throw up at that thought but doesn't let her feelings control her mind. She needs cold hard evidence and she's gonna get it.

She knows her father and she knows he never loses. So she needs a catalyst.

Her son is pretty. He is awkward and probably thinks very little of himself, but he is. His angular face, big eyes and small frame makes him adorable and a little feminine, but not unattractive. She is sure he would be more popular among young girls and boys if his anxiety and his grandfather wouldn't stand in the way.

That's why she accepts her coworker, Cindy’s invitation to dinner on Friday. Cindy talks a lot about her family, especially about his “ _adorable son Mikey who recently broke up with his boyfriend and it's all so sad”_ and it's perfect.

Jerry goes along easily, he loves playing the part of a normal family but the others are harder to convince. She has to blackmail Summer and Morty into coming but Rick is another matter entirely.

“Oh, Morty, I didn't even tell you the best thing: Cindy and John have a son around your age and he thinks you are cute-”

“Fine, I will come, sweetie. If this is so important to you…” She doesn't know if Rick is aware of how obvious he is being but she has a real hard time acting like she doesn't want to punch him in the face for even looking at her son in the wrong way.

The dinner is awkward, but she didn't expect anything else. Jerry is in his element, chatting with Cindy and John good-naturedly, Summer is on her phone, Morty is eating quietly, avoiding Mikey's eyes and Rick looks constipated.

However gross are the implications of the whole situation she has the urge to laugh because she never thought she would have her father in the corner one day, but here they are. After dinner, they go to the living room and Mikey asks Morty if he wants to go up to his room playing a video game Beth doesn't know. She told Cindy all about how Morty wanted a sweet boyfriend but was too shy to initiate anything and it pays out nicely. Mikey seems very interested and Morty is too polite to say no. He sneaks a glance at his grandfather and Beth is delighted to see how badly Rick masks his emotions. He glares at Mikey like he wants to break the hand he has on Morty's arm but Mikey is oblivious. Everyone is, except for Beth.

The night goes on and when they are about to leave, Mikey gives a piece of paper to Morty that has his phone number and a smiley face on it and Morty takes it bashfully. She acts like she doesn't notice Rick tearing it to shreds the moment they step out of the house.

Now comes the final step. Earlier, she placed a camera in Morty's room and in her father's too. She is sure Rick would notice normally but she is sure he is too riled up now to think rationally. Her father was always possessive. It is her chance to catch him.

She goes to bed immediately after they get home but she doesn't sleep. She listens to Jerry's quiet snores and thinks about what comes next. She is dreading tomorrow because she will _know_ and she won’t be able to delay confronting her father any longer. The question is what she is going to do when the time comes.

The next day Rick takes the kids to another adventure and Jerry goes to his yoga class. Beth is alone and she goes to collect the footage from the cameras. They are still where she hid them, fortunately. She watches the footage of Rick's room from the time they got back and nothing interesting happens at first. He is not even in his room, but Beth is certain he is not in Morty's either. He was probably drinking in the garage, picking up his habit again. She speeds up the video and about one hour in Rick stumbles into the tiny room. He goes straight to bed but he doesn't sleep. He stares moodily at the ceiling, murmuring something the camera didn't catch and he stands up suddenly, storming out of his room. Beth stops the video and picks up the footage of Morty's room and fast forwards an hour. Morty is sleeping peacefully when Rick enters his room. He stumbles on the bed waking her son up who blinks at him sleepily and asks him what's wrong.

“What's- What's wrong, Morty?? That piece of shit was all over you the whole fucking night, that is what's wrong.”

“Rick, I already told you; nothing happened. We just played v-video games and he gave me h-his number. Which you t-threw away, by the way, so it doesn't matter.”

“But he _touched_ you.”

“Jesus, Rick, calm the fuck down.” Morty rolls his eyes, not at all affected by his grandfather's rage and Beth doesn't know what to think. She is certain her suspicions were correct, but that's not what she expected at all.

Rick pouts in the footage and crawls under the covers next to Morty. Her son sighs and turns to his side, letting Rick spoon him. Her father buries his face in Morty's neck and whispers something Beth can't understand. Morty chuckles and presses a kiss to Rick's temple and that's it. They both go back to sleep and Beth is left feeling all kinds of emotions. Anger, most prominently. But she has to admit the situation could be a lot worse. Morty doesn't seem to be in distress, he is not afraid of her father, which is a good sign. Her father is still a manipulative asshole but at least he doesn't abuse his grandson physically or mentally. She can't believe she is glad her father only abuses her underage son _sexually_. She has hit rock bottom, it's official. Her mother would be proud.

Her family comes home about two hours later and she sends anyone except Rick upstairs. Jerry glances at her questioningly but she doesn't look away from her father who holds her gaze. Morty looks worried but he goes to his room without protesting. Summer looks like she doesn't care and follows her brother.

Only the two of them remain in the room and Beth notes her father doesn't sit down. Maybe he is ready to bolt if it comes down to that.

“I know.” She states simply, staring steadily into his narrowing eyes.

“Yeah, I gathered.”

She expected excuses and explanations and him calling her sweetie, but Rick doesn't do any of that.

“Why?” She wants to ask so many things but that's the only thing she can choke out.

“Because I can, Beth.” He answers smiling and she feels furious again and she is up in his face before she knows it, yanking him closer by his shirt and she spits everything she wanted in his face but never did.

“Because you _can_? You broke my fucking life, dad, you broke mom's heart because you _could_ and now you take away my son too?! Why are you such a selfish dick? Morty is fourteen, he is a fucking _child._ ” She is out of breath and she comes close to strangling him but he remains calm.

“I am sorry, sweetie.”

“I am sorry, too, mom.” She turns around and comes face to face with a reluctant Morty who is holding a gun. She doesn't have time to think about what that means, because Morty shoots and she collapses.

 

She wakes up in her bed and she feels incredibly disoriented. She looks at her phone and sees it's five pm. Why was she sleeping?

Jerry peeks his head in and smiles at her.

“Oh, I'm glad you are awake. You hit her head hard, we were worried.” She did? That would explain the headache and her hazy memories. “Rick said you would be okay though. But Beth, you shouldn't drink so much. What if you tripped badly and die or something?”

“Yeah, yeah, okay, Jerry. Just don't speak, my head is killing me.”

“Hold on, I will bring you painkillers.”

“Wait, how is Morty?”

“Why do you ask? He is a little worried but fine.”

“Oh, okay. I don't know, I just thought…” What? What did she think? Her brain doesn't want to cooperate. She really should cut down on the wine... “Nothing. Bring the pills, please.”

**Author's Note:**

> I noticed the disturbing pattern of memory gun usage in all my R&M fics, so sorry for that.
> 
> If you still liked it, though, please show it with kudos and/or a comment!


End file.
